CPAC Co-Sponsored by GOProud...and John Birch Society

A few weeks ago the new gay conservative organization GOProud announced that it was added to the list of co-sponsors at the annual gathering of conservative activists. Honestly, I didn't think it would be an issue, but it bounced around the blogosphere yesterday.

It seems that a small group of social conservatives led by anti-gay Matt Barber and Liberty Counsel is threatening to boycott CPAC if GOProud isn't kicked off the co-sponsors list. I say let them boycott if they're so worried about being in the same room as teh gays. CPAC said the same thing:

CPAC is a coalition of nearly 100 conservative groups, some of which may disagree with one another on a handful of issues. But, at the end of the day, we all agree on core conservative principles. As you may know, GOProud was founded by a former member of the Log Cabin Republicans who left the group because he thought they were doing a disservice to their constituency by not adhering to conservative and Republican principles. GOProud’s website states “GOProud is committed to a traditional conservative agenda that emphasizes limited government, individual liberty, free markets and a confident foreign policy. GOProud promotes our traditional conservative agenda by influencing politics and policy at the federal level.”

After talking with their leadership and reviewing their website, I am satisfied that they do not represent a “radical leftist agenda,” as some have stated, and should not be rejected as a CPAC cosponsor.

With two exceptions for gay social issues, GOProud's legislative priorities look more conservative than that list that was passed around at the RNC last month. So it boils down to how much of a coalition of conservative political activists the Matt Barber-type social cons want. Obviously, the coalition doesn't extend to gays, but I suspect that for these folks that has nothing to do with legislative priorities and everything to do with the gay thing.

Actually, I don't suspect that. I know it. Covering this story for anti-gay "Americans for Truth About Homosexuality", Peter LaBarbera writes: "there is nothing 'conservative' about — as Barber inimitably puts it — 'one man violently cramming his penis into another man’s lower intestine and calling it ‘love.’'"

Well, sure. There's also nothing conservative about a man violently cramming his dick into a woman's coochie and calling it love. In fact, we often call that "rape." Way to miss the point, bigots. (Yes, I called the Barber-types "bigots." No, I didn't say anything about all social cons, the vast majority of whom disagree with Barber.)

Anyway, towards the end of the day yesterday the John Birch Society announced that it too would be co-sponsoring CPAC. A chorus of groans went around the twittersphere before the CPAC folks chimed in with a short announcement: see our prior statement on inclusion of GOProud. Heh.